The present disclosure generally relates to computer networks and, in particular, to managing wireless local area networks.
A wireless local area network (WLAN) allows a client device to access network resources by establishing a wireless connection to the WLAN through an access point (AP). While connected to the WLAN, the client device may access the Internet, access peripheral devices connected to the WLAN and/or communicate with other client devices. However, a WLAN owner may not want all users to have the same level of access to the network resources. A WLAN owner may configure multiple service set identifiers (SSIDs), together with respective passcodes, or configure access profiles for individual client devices to create different levels of access to the network resources. However, the administrative overhead for this hardware based management can be burdensome to the WLAN owner, as different users seek access to the WLAN and/or the WLAN owner modifies access levels previously granted to users. Managing network resources and users is complicated further when multiple users, each with a different level of access, use a common client device to access the WLAN.